COSHOCTON - Coshocton County commemorates a single Confederate soldier with small battle flags and bronze flag holders downtown on courtsquare and in a local cemetery.

At least one man, James Murphy, 37, of Keene Township, wants that to change. He has asked the county commissioners to take down the flag on courtsquare. His grandparents moved the family to Coshocton County from Alabama to escape the legacy of slavery, he said.

"My kids shouldn't be growing up here with the hate flag flying," he said.

Murphy said the Confederate battle flag represents hate and slavery and should not stand on the Courthouse grounds.

"This is the North. This isn't the South," he said. "It shouldn't be flying."

Murphy said a Confederate states flag would be more appropriate. He said he plans to circulate a petition asking the commissioners to remove the flag from courtsquare.

The flags honoring all veterans are not back up yet this year at Oak Ridge Cemetery, where Civil War Confederate soldier William Webb is buried, according to Jim Barstow, Coshocton County Veterans Service officer. Members of the Sons of the American Legion Post 65 will replace flags there in May in time for Memorial Day, he said.

All but one of Coshocton County's veterans are commemorated with an American flag and flag holders recognizing the war in which they served, Barstow said.

Only Webb, who served in Confederate Company B of the First Tennessee Infantry, is represented by the Confederate battle flag, both at the cemetery and on courtsquare. Barstow said Webb was a prisoner of war being transported through Coshocton County in 1864 to be traded for a Union prisoner when he fell ill. He died at the home of Union veteran Joseph Sawyer and was buried in Coshocton after officials could not find any relatives.

His remains and gravestone are located in the south side of the old section of Oak Ridge Cemetery, off North Sixth Street. Since 1953, local veterans organizations have decorated his grave with a Confederate battle flag by Memorial Day, according to a story published in the May 30, 1965, edition of the Coshocton Tribune.

"If it weren't for Coshocton, this guy would get no recognition," Barstow said.

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This Confederate battle flag standing next to the Veterans Memorial on Coshocton's Court Square commemorates a Confederate soldier who died and was buried in Coshocton County.(Photo: Joe Williams/Tribune)

The 33 commemorative flags on the courthouse grounds measure 13 by 21 inches and extend about 3 feet up from the ground. They mark four memorials honoring Coshocton County veterans on the south side of courtsquare.

The Confederate battle flag for Webb has been displayed at courtsquare at least since 1985, Barstow said, when current employees joined the Veterans Service Commission. However, officials believe the practice extended back before that year, he said.

County Commissioner Curtis Lee said the county currently has no plans to take it down.

"It's to honor a Confederate soldier, and that's the flag they use to honor their soldiers," Lee said.

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This flag holder in Oak Ridge Cemetery identifies the remains of William Webb as a Confederate war veteran.(Photo: Michael Lehmkuhle/Tribune)

Murphy had been scheduled to meet with the commissioners on March 28, but said he did not attend that session because he did not think he could change anything after talking with Coshocton City Council President Cliff Biggers, pastor of Coshocton's Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church.

Biggers told the Tribune he believes the flag is displayed in the proper context, in an historic setting, where the county honors its veterans. It does not fly over the courthouse, but is among other small flags surrounding veterans' memorials.

"Historically, it's their battle flag. It's what they carried into battle," he said. "... People have made it to mean something derogatory. It depends on how you look at it."

Biggers said that given the current political climate "we need to get together. We're all Americans, not Northern Americans, not Southern Americans. We need to all get together."

Last year, after a white supremacist shot and killed nine people in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, someone took down the Confederate flag on Coshocton's courtsquare, broke its supporting stick and threw both away - all in view of the Courthouse security guard, Barstow said.

"All he saw, it was a sign of hate, right on the heels of South Carolina," he said.

Barstow related the history and reasoning for the display to that man and declined to press charges.

This year, he has told the local history to Murphy and two other people who oppose the display.

"In no way, shape or form do we want to offend anybody," he said.

By displaying the Confederate flag in Webb's honor, the county is not promoting hate groups, slavery or secession, Barstow said: "We're only trying to honor the sacrifices of a fallen veteran, as we do all the veterans of this county."